The sustenance of the children
of Israel who came out of Egypt in the Exodus was a staggering
task to be sure. No one is certain of the exact
number which Moses led out from under Egyptian bondage, but we
are told in Exodus 12, 37 that the number of men, not including
women and children, was approximately 600,000. They were glad to leave
Egypt's bondage and found themselves enriched with Egyptian wealth
as the Lord caused the Egyptians to give them their gold and silver
jewelry. Their joy at this deliverance
and wealth was short-lived, however, when they saw the Egyptian army
headed for them as they had their backs against the Red Sea. They
forgot the joy of their deliverance, and they murmured and lamented
their plight, thinking they had escaped only to be destroyed. Yet in the proper time, the Lord
demonstrated His power in their deliverance by opening the Red
Sea and causing them to go through it on dry ground. Then he brought
about the destruction of the Egyptians by that same power
as he caused the sea to fall on them. Knowing human nature
as we do, we are not surprised that the people started to complain
and murmur when they began to be thirsty and were unable to
find water to drink. This murmuring followed right
upon the heels of their great celebration at the Red Sea. Such
is the way of man's religious flesh. He is full of praise one
moment when everything is going well, and then fretting the next
because his attempts to solve his problems are not met with
success. Rather than waiting on the Lord's
provision, he seeks to solve his own problems by reliance
upon the flesh. The Lord had already formed a
well or stream for them to drink from long before they were thirsty
or had ever arrived at it. Your Father knoweth what things
ye have need of before ye ask him. As they congratulated themselves
on their ability to discover this stream, they found that
they could not enjoy the water because it was to them bitter.
In the flesh we view the trials and troubles of this world as
bitter. Yet that man who is taught by the Spirit is made to see
that even these bitter waters are designed for our benefit.
And we know that all things work together for good to them that
love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.
So is even this bitter water which was tasted by the Hebrews
meant for the benefit of the Lord's children, as we see how
those waters are made sweet. These waters were made to be
bitter by the hand of the one who provided the means whereby
they might be made sweet. There is nothing that could possibly
transpire in this world which is not designed and ordained
by the hand of an all-wise and sovereign God. It did not just
happen that these waters were bitter, but they were designed
to be bitter. One reason is so that the Lord's
children might be shown that there is nothing in this natural
world that can benefit them in the kingdom of God. Just as this
bitter water fulfilled the ordained purpose of God, so too is the
wrath and wickedness of men and angels ordained to fulfill that
same purpose. The Lord hath made all things
for himself, yea, even the wicked, for the day of evil. The glory
of the Redeemer is seen against the backdrop of the darkness
of this world and its inhabitants. These waters were made sweet
as Moses put a tree in them. It is by the means of another
tree that the sweetness of the gospel has come to us. The scriptures
tell us that the Lord Jesus Christ is a tender plant and a root
out of a dry ground. He is that One who was cast into
the waters. He did not merely decree that
the waters would be made sweet, but He took upon Himself the
likeness of sinful flesh and cast Himself into these waters
that He might be tried and tested in all points and yet remain
without sin. Thus He became sin for us that
we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. This is indeed
the sweetest water that can ever be drunk by a thirsting and perishing
sinner. He has made these waters sweet.
In Him is found all of our righteousness.